DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Warring Tories must now put Britons first
How rapidly fortunes turn. Just weeks ago, Boris Johnson was riding the crest of a political wave.
He had a seemingly unassailable lead in the polls. He was adored by Tory MPs, activists and voters alike. And Labour was scrabbling desperately for relevance. Surely he was cruising to a second term in No10.
Then the wave broke.
Ever since, the Prime Minister has been deluged by a torrent of bad news. Sleaze claims, calamitous decisions, humiliating U-turns and a deeply damaging police probe into lockdown-busting parties.
His premiership is on the brink of ignominious disintegration.
How rapidly fortunes turn. Just weeks ago, Boris Johnson was riding the crest of a political wave
In the past tumultuous 48 hours alone, one of his most trusted lieutenants quit over comments he made against Sir Keir Starmer relating to the prosecution of paedophile Jimmy Savile.
To add to his woes, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid made deeply unhelpful (indeed, disloyal) interventions criticising his remarks. Meanwhile, another MP submitted a letter of no confidence in his leadership.
Like Caesar in the PM’s beloved Classics, his would-be assassins are sharpening their blades. Even his most passionate evangelists accept things look bleak.
Yet only the foolish would write Mr Johnson off. He has many times before defied political gravity. The big question is whether he can do so again.
In the past tumultuous 48 hours alone, one of his most trusted lieutenants quit over comments he made against Sir Keir Starmer relating to the prosecution of paedophile Jimmy Savile
Already, the PM is taking steps to stop the rot. To placate disgruntled Tory MPs, he has cleared out misfiring senior aides. It is imperative he replaces them with people of experience, stature and authority.
He has also confirmed his promise to give MPs and ministers more influence, rather than running No10 like an aloof royal court. This should add rigour to policy making – ensuring ill-thought-out (or simply insane) ideas are dropped like hot potatoes.
On top of that, a rousing speech to No10 staff showed off his old vigour.
‘Change is good,’ he proclaimed yesterday. We fervently hope so.
So those agitated MPs circling Mr Johnson should stop, take a deep breath and not get carried away by the avalanche of hysteria and outrage on social media and 24-hour news. The internecine warfare is not just debilitating. It is a self-indulgent distraction from the issues voters really care about.
First on the agenda is dealing with the cost of living crisis (imagine the goodwill if he eased households’ burden and spiked the national insurance hike).
Then there’s the Channel migrants, the NHS backlog, the social care scandal and getting civil servants back to their desks.
The truth is, the in-fighting benefits only Labour and the rest of Mr Johnson’s enemies. They want him toppled because they fear him at the ballot box – and rightly so.
He is a serial winner. In his short time as Tory leader, he has saved Britain from Corbynism, delivered Brexit, presided over a world-leading Covid vaccination programme and led Britain out of lockdown.
And let’s be ruthlessly frank. Who else in the Cabinet has the star quality, vision and campaigning brilliance to ward off Sir Keir’s socialist peril?
And let’s be ruthlessly frank. Who else in the Cabinet has the star quality, vision and campaigning brilliance to ward off Sir Keir’s socialist peril?
Mr Sunak? Some say he’s competent. But what about the billions in Covid loans defrauded from the Treasury? He was like a bank manager not noticing Ronnie Biggs clean out the safe.
A successful coup against Mr Johnson risks a general election and a diabolical alliance of Labour and the SNP (and possibly the LibDems and Plaid Cymru in case there weren’t already enough nuts in the cake) seizing power.
Are the Tories really ready to inadvertently let in a coalition that would ruin the economy, the Union and all we hold dear? Or is it time they got a grip and put hard-pressed Britons – and their livelihoods – first?
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